Taiwan’s President shows support for Japan in China dispute with sushi lunch
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Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, in pictures on his social media feeds, shared himself eating a sushi lunch of yellowtail from Japan’s Kagoshima and scallops from Hokkaido.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM WILLIAM_CHINGTE/INSTAGRAM
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TAIPEI – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te showed his support for Japan on Nov 20 with a lunch of Japanese-sourced sushi, after China indicated it would ban all imports of the country’s seafood in an escalating dispute over the Chinese-claimed island.
Tensions between the two countries ignited after new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in November that a Chinese attack on Taiwan threatening Japan’s survival could trigger a military response
“What are you eating? Now is perhaps a good time to eat Japanese food,” the president said in the post on his Facebook and Instagram accounts showing him sitting on a sofa holding up chopsticks and a plate of sushi.
“It fully shows the firm friendship between Taiwan and Japan,” he said of the sushi, which included ingredients from Taiwan such as cuttlefish as well as yellowtail from Kagoshima in Japan and scallops from the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
“Today’s lunch is sushi and miso soup,” he wrote, using the same wording in Japanese on his X account.
Taiwan’s government, which rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, has in recent years been subject to similar food export bans by China, including of Taiwanese pineapples and fish, in what Taipei has said is part of a Chinese pressure campaign.
Speaking to reporters at Parliament earlier on Nov 20, Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said China’s use of economic coercion and military intimidation to “bully other nations are already too numerous to mention individually”.
“At this critical juncture, we must also support Japan in effectively stabilising the situation and halting the Chinese communists’ bullying behaviour.”
Addressing lawmakers later, Mr Lin said Taiwanese should make more visits to Japan and buy more Japanese goods to show their friendship with the country.
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Taiwan was an inseparable part of China’s territory.
“No matter what show the Lai Ching-te authorities put on, it cannot change this ironclad fact,” she added.
Japan and Taiwan have a close though unofficial relationship and deep cultural and business ties. Japan ruled Taiwan from 1895 until the end of World War II in 1945. REUTERS
